We started up the rebuilt 235 today. We wound it up to 2000 rpm and held it for 20 min to break in everything. The headers got a little hot: The Lokar Throttle cable was about 2.5 in away from the headers and the covering was melted: Do I need to find another way to route the cable? With normal driving and wind movement through the engine bay will the headers ever get that hot again? Is it possible to just buy a new housing cover or will I have to pop for a whole new cable? Thanks for the help. Bill
I would check your timing. I would bet it's retarded. Thats what usualy causes the headers to get that hot.
Just buy a whole new unit. The only way to get the housing would be to have it ordered special from Lokar. It might be cheaper than the whole cable initially... but after freight and waiting 2 weeks to get it... it would probably be better to just get the whole thing and be done with it.
I just figured it was because we had the throttle wired up to keep it at 2000 rpm for 20 min and just sitting in the driveway...we put a fan on the radiator to help keep the air moving but it's not like it was going down the road at 60 mph.
Check a bike shop, they will have what you need. Even a good hardware store should have some. It's the same stuff used for handbrakes on a bicycle.
what about making some sort of heat shield that would mount to the header flange?? 2.5" from the header is not a lot of space, going down the road may not be a huge problem but slow traffic or cruising through a parking lot the heat will build up pretty fast.....I'd either move the cable or make a shield....another suggestion would be header or the foiled type of heat wrap on the cable....I had to do that on my truck for the pos battery cable, it was a few inches from the header and the coating melted.... another thing to be concerned about, if that cable's inner nylon sleeve melts while driving, a stuck throttle may occur, that would not be good...
Rebuilt engines always run hot on first startup, don't chase your tail too far checking the timing. Get some heat sleeve for the replacement cable, either the aluminum foil wrap, or the woven glass kind. Problem solved. Good luck
Took a good look at your pic. Where you have a bracket off your manifold I used a bellcrank. That way the cable is a straight shot from the firewall. From the bellcrank to the pulldown lever is a rod. Keeps everything away from the heat.
I agree with chopped, you may want to take a second look at the design here. That cable should be no where near that amount of heat. I had a situation where I had a bad ground on the cab of my truck and all the electricity was grounding through my Lokar cable to the engine. This created a bunch of heat in the inner cable and melted the teflon lining which in turn caused a stressfull sticking throttle situation on the freeway. take a look at this picture from Lokar's site. It's of their blower drive cable assembly (also available in black) which works with BDS, Enderle, and Weiand linkage. You could definately use a similar design for your application and take that cable straight back into the firewall to keep it out of harms way. Here's a link to the page for the cable so you can get more info http://www.lokar.com/product-descriptions/hitech-blowerdrive-tc-kds.htm
I like 40Chev's heat shield idea. Perhaps a shallow V piece with rounded V. And orient the heat shield - regardless of its shape - so that it deflects incoming air from the fan toward the cable. Simple heat shields can work wonders. I think too, just driving the car things would be ok. Including those long traffic jams. Only place I've seen red hot headers is during the break-in period when there's not a lot of air flowing.
don't use the lokar, i've seen them break too many times. spectre performance part number 2431 is what i've always used. it's mucho cheaper than the lokar and the cable is thicker. plus the sleeve is steel. if you like the black sleeve use part number 2430. 2431 2430
Bill, As far a fixing the cable covering , Why don't you clean off the damaged covering and put some heat shrink in its place to cover the damaged area , A lot cheaper than replacing the cable and just as effective, I would re-route the cable like some of the others suggested,,,,,
I think I will go with the stainless cable this time around. The Spectre cable looks good. This was during the cam break in. The engine is bored 60 over with a mild cam and people have mentioned timing and a lean situation all of which we will check out once we get the cable replaced.
I think the inner lining is messed up too. The cable won't move freely, so I'm just going to replace the whole thing.
true, but that is between the steel core and the outer braid. the braid deflects the heat better anyway. i forgot to mention though...these spectre cables are only $25-$30
I picked up a SS Spectre cable from my local Pep Boys for $25. It doesn't look as long as the Lokar but I will see if I can get it to fit.
How hard is it to modify these to a shorter cable?? I think, just like any cable, remove the cable from the cover, cut the cover to lenght with a zip wheel or hacksaw, cut cable with zip wheel, reassemble. Make sure no burr inside the cover. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
gas pumper's got it. they are pretty substantial sleeves though so i recommend a cutoff wheel over a hacksaw...saves time and bleeding.
When I cut the Lokar cable, I used some nylon reinforced packing tape around the cable where I wanted to cut it off and then used my Dremel tool with a cut off wheel...it worked slick.
I opened up the Spectre cable today and discovered that the ends are nylon so I think I'm going to stay with the Lokar but get the stainless steel one instead of the black one. I only need 21" of housing but 30" of cable. Does anyone know how long the cable is in a 24" universal? I used the 36" universal the first time around but can save a little if there is enough cable in the 24".
Make sure the engine has a good ground. My cable melted but the reason was it was making the ground for the engine. Forget to run a ground cable from the engine to the frame.
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